Artist Bio:
Jacques Brel (1929–1978) was a singer-composer, author, actor and director, whose special contribution to French chanson was his daredevil emotional immediacy. Although his lyrics were unfailingly intelligent and beautifully phrased and could be uncannily intuitive and tender, he also functioned in a maelstrom, flinging his words at the listener—if Brel had been a painter, he would have been Vincent Van Gogh.
Jacques Romain Georges Brel was born in a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. His family was of Dutch-Flemish ancestry but spoke French at home, a situation not uncommon in this bilingual nation. Brel's father managed a packaging factory and it was understood that Jacques, like his brother before him, would join the family firm. But the boy had already begun experimenting with playwriting and found corporate life almost unbearably stultifying. His involvement with a local philanthropic organization with a decent drama department gave some respite. It was here that he met his future wife, Miche, whom he married in 1950; the couple would have three daughters but eventually separate. After a stint in the army, Brel realized that he was irrevocably attracted to music, and by 1952 he was deeply engrossed in songwriting. However, his frank sentiments and out-of-control stage demeanor was too much for Belgian audiences; always ambivalent about his homeland, he later lampooned the populace in songs like "Les Flamandes." Undeterred, he soldiered on until his debut recording came to the attention of Jacques Canetti, artistic director of the Philips label, who suggested that Brel relocate to Paris. His family was completely opposed to this idea. Cut off without a cent, he went anyway.
Once Brel arrived in the French capital, his days were taken up with an unceasing round of auditions, which finally led to a few bookings. But it was not smooth sailing by any means, as Parisian cabaret-goers, with their fabled disdain for provincials, often made fun of him. In 1955, he entered a Belgian songwriting contest and placed almost at the bottom. But chanson star Juliette Greco, always on the prowl for new material, liked his losing tune and introduced it at a concert at the Olympia music hall—the great Édith Piaf (1915–'63) was another enthusiastic admirer. Around this time, he met a man named Georges Pasquier, more usually known by his nickname, Jojo. He would become Brel's dear friend, manager and also his driver. He also encountered pianist François Rauber, who became his session accompanist and arranger, and another keyboard man, Gérard Jouannest, who backed Brel during live concerts and collaborated with him on several classic songs.
By the mid-'50s, Brel's albums were beginning to bring him a growing renown; his hoarse, rough-edged vocals were now considered bracing and compelling while his poetry was lauded as sensitive, unfettered and exhilarating. His second release, which came out in 1957, contained "Quand on a Que L'Amour" ("When One Only Has Love"), which won him the Grand Prix de L'Académie Charles Cros. "La Valse à 1000 Temps," from 1959, created an even stronger demand for live concerts throughout France; he also garnered bookings in the Europe, Russia, the Middle East and the United States. As he was frantically driven from show to show, his intake of alcohol and cigarettes skyrocketed. In 1962 Brel switched labels, signing with Barclay, which was also chanson idol Charles Aznavour's imprint. He set up his own publishing company in 1962, which guaranteed that he would retain ownership of his catalogue. He also discovered a passion for aviation, becoming an amateur pilot, which came in handy once he bought property in the Polynesia's Marquessa Islands.
In 1965 Brel celebrated his 12th anniversary in the music business with a concert at a Parisian cabaret, a return to Russia and finally, a rapturously received show at Carnegie Hall where the press described him as the "Magnetic Hurricane." But the next year, he stunned the world by announcing that he was giving up his singing career. After a series of packed farewell performances in France and abroad, he actually did retire—as a solo act, anyway. However, during a trip to New York, he had gone to see The Man of La Mancha, which moved him so deeply that he decided to produce a French-language stage version and star in it himself. By 1969 he was also engrossed in movie acting, appearing in several films and working with directors like Edouard Molinaro, Marcel Carné and Claude Lelouch. Brel also directed a couple of films.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Brel's life and work had inspired a musical titled Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, which moved to Broadway in 1968. Its continuing success was something of an irony because by the early '70s Brel was only sporadically in that city and already ill with the lung cancer that would kill him. He was still periodically heard from, rerecording his most famous works in fresh arrangements and putting out a single for charity. He relocated to the Marquessa Islands, living a more relaxed life, indulging his growing love of sailing and using his airplane to deliver supplies to neighboring communities. He emerged in 1977 to make one last album, which sold in the millions almost upon release. By now his illness had reached the terminal stage; he flew back to France for treatment and died there in October 1978. —Christina Roden
